Yerry Mina made his first Premier League start for Everton in their 0-0 draw at Chelsea on Sunday.
Marco Silva has something of a welcome dilemma ahead of him in the coming months at Everton. The Toffees manager will have to make a decision on just how he wants to bed in last summer’s big money signing from Barcelona, Yerry Mina.
Silva will need to choose how he approaches the remainder of this season as, up to now, he has had a very settled first XI, making minimal changes from week to week.
Kurt Zouma, on loan from Chelsea, has been forging a strong central-defensive partnership with Michael Keane for Everton. Zouma was ineligible for Everton’s trip to his parent club, Chelsea, on Sunday.
In Zouma’s absence, Mina started his first league game for Everton and impressed Silva with his performance. Even though his game time had been non-existent until recently, Mina has already made himself a firm fan-favourite with his fun-loving attitude off the pitch.
Silva, at some stage, will have to make the call that benefits his club the most in the long run. That may well mean dropping an on-loan first-teamer such as Kurt Zouma so Mina can work on his partnership with Michael Keane sooner.
It would be very short-sighted for Silva to continue selecting Zouma, no matter how consistent his performances are, and neglect Mina’s progress at the club since Zouma will be returning to Chelsea next summer. Essentially, he would be developing Zouma for another club’s benefit.
Mina is contracted at Goodison Park until 2023 so Silva is better off starting the transition soon, with Zouma possibly having to accept he will need to be an option from the bench for the second half of the season.
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